Improvement in stone-polishing machine



HENRY SCHOFIELD,.OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGN HIMSELF AND CHARLES I).Y CLARKE, 0F SAME PLACE.

Letters Patent No. 9',8l7,vdated December 14, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN STONE-POLSHING MACHINE.

. The Schedu1e 'referred to in these Letters Patent ,and making part of the same.

Beit known that I, HENRY Sorrentino, of the city and county of Philadelphia, and .State of Pennsylvania, have invented vnew and useful Improvements in Machines for Rubbing Marble, Brownstone, Granite, Slate, Freestone, Sandstone, and, other similar material; and I do h'ereby declare that the following is a, full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had .to the` annexed drawings, making part of this specification, and to .which reference will be made by letters. Of said drawingsl g .Iy'igure l represents my improved machine, as seen from, the side; Figure 2 represents the same, as seen from one end; Figure 3 represents the rubbing-disk, as seen from above;

Figure 4 represents the under surface of said disk; and v Figure 5 represents said disk in. section.

I will now. proceed to describe my improved machine.

0n a rectangular frame, A, supported horizontally on posts` a, is a carriage, B, whose wheels b roll on ways or rails b, placed lengthwise on the surface of the frame.

This carriage is intended for supporting the block of stoneto he rubbed, and is moved backward and forward by a screw, G, which is supportedin abearing on'a cross-bar, I, of the frame,.anll passes longitudi-` nally underneath the carriage and through a nut, o, attached to the undersurface of said carriage.

A shaft, E, which passes through and'rests in bearings, let into the sidepieces of frame A, carries a` pulley, (not shownin the drawings, but which. may be 'conif-.e'nently placed onthe end at the rightl1and,-as

seen in fig. 2,) to which power may be communicated by a crank, belt, or any other means.

On the opposite end of shaft E'there are keyed a pulley, H," and a bevel Year wheel, g, the latter gearing with one or the other of twosimilar gear-wheels, A

g and g", on a shaft, F, which is supported bybrackeis 7i. and h', outside of but parallel lto the side of i frame A.

The purpose of the bevel-gearing and the shaft lust named, is to aid in the transmission of motion from the driving-shaft E to the carriage B, and in furtherance of this design the' extremities j andj of` shaft F and screw C areconnected by a band, J, which passes around two pulleys, (not shown in the drawings), one

` -of which is keyed to the shaft and the other to the screw. i

It will th'us be seen that if theV bevel-wheels y and g be geared lt-ogeths'er, as shownin g. l of the draw The carriage has, however, not only a movement forward, but also a' movement backward, or, in other words, it reciprocates, the change of uiotion being effected automatically, and so as not to require the arrest of rotation of shaft E, in the following manner:

vThat portionof shaft F which supports the wheels g g', is made hollow, for the reception of a rod, k, to which said wheels are fastened by pins l', which pass through the hubs lof said wheels, vthrough the rod k, and through the shaith, the, holes k', through the latter, bein'g elongated, so as to admit of a slight reciprocating movement of the rod, and thus also of the wheels.

l "io the outer end of rod la is attached, by a swiveljoint, another rod, an', bent in such manner as to lie for vsonne distance parallel to and against the side of frame A, and thence upward, so that' its vertical extremity may stand directly in the path of two stops, m, (of which one onlyis see-n in the drawing,.) which project from the side'of carriage B, tlius, when the carriage is moving in the direction indicated by the arrow, (seen upon its side in iig. 1,) one of the stops will be brought in contact with the vertical extremity of rod M, and force it, together with rod 'in and the two wheels, g g", forward, bringing the wheel gf into connection with wheel y, on shaft E, and thus reverse the direction of shaft F, and consequently of the screw C; and, on the return of the carriage, just the reverse will happen; the wheel g will be thrown out of connection, and the wheel g into .connection with wheel y, and thnssimilarly reverse the direction of rotation of screw C.

Vlhe rubbing-device is a circular disk, N, (shown in iigs. 3, 4, and 5,) to which is imparted a movement of rotation, and which is adj nstable,`within certain limits, to various inclinations and curvatures of the surface of the stone to be ground, as well as to a horizontal surface.V

The disk is made of metal, with a central oriiice, fit, through it, surroundedon its upper surface, by a hub, n', and a raised iiange, n, encircling said hub at some distance from it, which, together with the hub and disk, form an annular basin for the reception of a rlhe disk is keyed upon the lower end of an upright shaft, Ofsupported in bearings o n a swinging frame,

P, composed of two side-pieces, p 2., and two crossbars, pand 1).

The lower ends of the side-piecesare bolted to the lsides of two worm-wheels, Q, which turn loosely on the two ends of shaft E, and with these worm-,wheels are geared screws q, formed upon or fastened to thc upper ends of two short inclined shafts,l q', each having upon its lower end a bevel-gear wheel, Ir, which gears into similar bevel-wheels fr on a transverse shaft, R, which turns in bca-rings attached to the under surfaces of the side-pieces of the frame, and has upon it, at one end, a hand-wheel, S.

It will be readily secu that by means of the combination of devices last described, it is only necessary to tuln the hand-wheel S to the right or left to cause the frame I) to swiu g forward or backward, and tlms adjust the disk N to different inclinations.

The shaft O turns in journal-bearings attached to the bars p 1)" of the frame P, its weight, as also that ofthe disk, being sustained by the cross-bar p", through the medium of a iixcd collar, Y, on said shaft, which rests en the upper surface of slide-bar, and rotary motion is communicated to said shaft through the me dium of a bevel-wheel gear, S, keyed upon its upper end, and resting on the upper surface' of bar p', and a similar wheel, S', which gears into it, keyed upon one end of a short horizontal shaft, T, which is supported in bearings projecting from bar p', and has upon its outer end a pulley, U, to which power is transmitted from the pulley E by means of a belt, u.

It is essential that the rubbing-disk be adjustable to dilerentaltitudcs, in order to accommodate it to blocks of stone of different thicknesses, and to this end I have adopted the following construction and combination of mechanism, premising that shaft O has a longitudinal slot, 0', in its surface, into which projects afeather on wheel, S, so that said shaft may be moved up or down in its bearings, without disturbing wheel S, otherwise than to canse it to rotate.

The cross-bar p, which, as has already been said, supports the weight of shaft O and disk N, is iu its turn supported by the side-pieces p of the frame,

through the medium of Vtwo screw-lrolts,x, one at -each end, which may clamp said bar to the side-pieces at any pointbetween the two extremities of longitudinal slots x' in said side-pieces, throughwhich they pass'.

rIwo large screws, W, each with a bevel-gear wheel, y, keyed upon its upper end, and resting on a collar or washer on the upper surface ofthe bar p', pass downward through both bars 1) andp,'looselythrough the former, and through fixed nuts in the latter.

These screws serve to adjust bar p" to different elevations, thin gear-wheels, jj, gearing with similar' wheels, z', on a short horizontal shaft, z, supported in bearings s, on bar p', and which carries, upon one end, a hand-wheel, X.

Thus, by loosening the nuts on the screw-bolts x, the bar p", and, with it, the shaft 0 rand disk N, .may be readily adjusted to different heights, by simply turning hand-wheel X, and be secured at any eleva-l tion adjusted to, by again tightening up the nuts.

In order to raise, for temporary purposes, the rubbing-disk from the surface of the stone without having to revert to the use of screws XV, as well, also, as to relieve the stone of too great a wcight two levers w, supported on fulcrnms fw', on the upper surface of cross-harp, engage, at one end, with the grooved collarV on shaft O; and on the outer end of one of these levers is a metallic balance-weight, 10'", which may be either interchangeable with other bodies of greater or less weight,or be made adjustable on said lever, while the outerv extremity of the other lever Iuay be grasped by the hand.

It is obvious that other methods of construction may be adopted for conveying the sand and 'water to the surface of the block. .Lhus, the shaft to whichthe disk is attached may be tubular, and communicate with a cavity formed in the rubbing-surface of the disk, at and around its axis of rotation, and this tubular shaft may be made the channel through which to supply the rubbing-material. This, however, posscsses no novelty. But there are othermethods of construction which I propose to use, and which have not, I believe, been known or used by others, namely,

`suclras shall convey the sand and water from a tubular shaft, or from a receptacle surroumling the shaft, through radial channels formed on the upper surface of the disk, or through radial channels formed wholly in the solid metal of the disk, said channels, whether on the surface or within the body'of the metallic-disk, communicating with its rubbing-surface, and with the block or slab, by a series of small lateral holes.

Either of these methods of construction, as well as that exhibited 'in the drawings, I regard as greatly superior to those heretofore employed; but, superior as they may be, I attach-'less importance to them than to the use of a plain-surfaced metallic rubbing-disk, substantially' such as I have described, whatever may be the method adopted for supplying it with rubbing-materia-l.

Rotating metallic disks have, I am aware, been used to cnt or plane the surface of marble or other stone, said disks being furrowed on their working-surface, and presenting a projecting cutting-edge, extending from the margin of the central cavity, in spiral convo? lutious, to the peripher and I am aware, also, that therel have been used rotating rubbing-disks composed of blocks of stone keyed or otherwisev clamped together in an iron case. My disk is, however, essentially different from both of these in construction, and from one of them in purpose as well as construction.

In the Iirst place, vit is not intended, and cannot be used to plane or cut of itself. Its oice is simply to rub-that is to say, to press the sand down upon the surface of the block, and, by its rotating movement, force the particles of sand around, and outward toward its periphery, in order that, in their movement, while subjected to pressure, said particles may abrade or rub down the surface of the block or slab. Its operation is essentially that of rubbing or grinding. No part of it is designed to be brought in contact with the block, and whatever of cutting may be produced is effected by the particles of sand alone, not by any part of the disk itself.

In the second place,it .is lessentially dierent in conl struction from and superior to a rotating disk made up of blocks of stone. The difference in construction is so manifest as not to require further remarks; but some of the advantages possessed by a metallic disk over a stone disk for the purpose of rubbing marble or stone may be brietly enumerated as follows:

First. A-metallic disk is much less expensive, may be made by casting in a mould, and thus be readily and cheaply replaced by another when too much worn.

Second, Itis impossible for it to get out of order, and toirequire repairs, whereas a disk made up of a number of blocks of stone requires constant care and 'frequent adjustment, in order that the blocks, from unequal wear, due to unequal hardness, may, as uniformly as possible, present an even or plain rubbingsurface.

rlhird. It is vastly more durable. A disk of metal, cast in iron or other chill-moulds, is but slightly acted on by the particles of sand, so long as their resistance 'to it is based upon a comparatively soft support below, such as marble or other building-stone, while, on the contrary, a stone disk will be abraded in an equal degree to the block on which it is operating.

Fourth. It is much more economical of power, for, while, with it, nearly'all the power employed is directly utilizedv in reducing the block or slab operated on, in the use of a stone disk, as much power is expended in the reduction of the disk itself as in the reduction of the block.

Fifth'. Its' weight being so much less than thatof a composite'V stone disk, it requires much less power disk, vcomposed entirely of metal, and having a smooth or plain rubbing-surface, substantially as described, and mechanism for adjusting and supporting said disk at diii'erent' elevations, corresponding to the thickness ofthe block or slab to be rubbed, the combination being and operating substantially as herein set forth.

2. In a machine for rubbing blocks or slabs of marble, &c., the combination of the-reciprocating-carriage, for supporting the b lock or slab, a rotating metallic rubing-disk, with a plain rubbing-surface, and weighted balance-lever, or equivalent device, for graduating the pressure of the disk upon the block or slab, the combination being and operating substantiallyas herein set forth.

3. In a machine for rubbing blocks or slabs of niarble, 85o., the combination of the reciprocating carriage for supporting the blocks or. slabs, a rotating metallic rubbing-disk, and' hand-1ever, for elevating said disk temporarily above the surface of block or slab, the com bination being and operating substantially as herein described.

4. In a machine for rubbing blocks or slabs of marble, Svc., the combination of the reciprocating carriage, for supporting the block or slab, with a rotating rubbingdisk, connected to a swinging frame,-and made capable thereby of adaptation to surfaces that are curved, in-

clined, and horizontal, the combination being and operating substantially as herein set forth.

5. In a machine for rubbing blocks or slabs of mar ble and other stone, a rubbing-disk, the rubbing-surfacefof which is of metal, entirely plainthat is to say, free from a protruding shaft, and from angular projections or protuberances-perforated, for the passage of sand and water, and connected, on its back or reverse surface, to the extremity of a shaft, through the mediurn of which power is communicated, for rotating said disk, and for elevating it, tosuit blocks or slabs of different thicknesses, all substantially as described.

6. The combination, substantially as described, or its# equivalent, of the revolving gear-wheel g, gear-Wheels Witnesses:

JAS. CLARKE, CHARLES E. BOOTH. 

